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France
Women's U-20
The Canadian Soccer Association is proud to announce that 13 officials have been named to the 2009 FIFA List of Referees and Assistant Referees. The list features seven referees (four male and three female) and six assistant referees (four male and two female). All seven Canadian referees were in fact retained from the 2008 FIFA List. Those seven referees are Steve Depiero, Mauricio Navarro, Silivu Petrescu, Paul Ward, Carol-Ann Chénard, Darci Kruse and Michelle Pye. Of note in 2008, Ms. Chénard took part in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Chile 2008 while Ms. Pye took part in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup New Zealand 2008.
Melissa Tancredi produced the moment of the year when she scored the winning goal in Canada’s first-ever qualification for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. The Canadian striker took advantage after Mexican defender Rubi Sandoval slipped with the ball at her feet.
Tancredi made no mistake as she scored the lone goal in a 1:0 victory over Mexico – in Mexico. It was Tancredi’s third of four goals at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament in Juarez, Mexico. The victory erased four years of Olympic frustration dating back to the last qualification tournament in Costa Rica – back to Canada’s 1:2 elimination loss to Mexico on 3 March 2004.
Mélissa Tancredi a créé l’évènement de l’année en marquant le but de la victoire lors du match éliminatoire du Tournoi Olympique de football féminin, assurant la toute première qualification du Canada à ce tournoi. La buteuse canadienne a saisi l’occasion lorsque la défenseure mexicaine Rubi Sandoval a glissé le ballon aux pieds.
Tancredi n’a commis aucune erreur lorsqu’elle a marqué l’unique but de la victoire canadienne 1 à 0 contre le Mexique – au Mexique. C’était le troisième des quatre buts de Tancredi au cours de l’édition 2008 du Tournoi qualificatif olympique féminin de la CONCACAF qui avait lieu à Juarez, au Mexique. La victoire a effacé quatre ans de frustration, qui remontait au dernier tournoi de qualification olympique au Costa Rica et à l’élimination du Canada sur le score de 1 à 2 face au Mexique, le 3 mars 2004.
Canada’s men’s national team scored 17 goals in 2008, the fourth-most in program history. Those goals that Canada didn’t score, however, will haunt the highlights of the 2008 season. Just watch that crossbar in the 87th minute of the Canada-Jamaica match on 20 August or the right post in the 45th minute of the Canada-Honduras match on 6 September.
Canada failed to advance beyond CONCACAF Stage III of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Qualifiers this past year. Canada posted three wins, three draws and six losses in 2008, but no wins, two draws and four losses in CONCACAF Stage III from 20 August to 19 November. Canada wasn’t lucky enough to score when it counted most in the so-called CONCACAF Group of Death against opponents Jamaica, Honduras and Mexico.
Canada’s women’s U-20 team provided the Association’s youth program’s moment of the year when it won the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in June. It was Canada’s second confederation championship in three tries against USA since 2004.
Karla Schacher scored the winning goal in the 1:0 victory on 28 June in Puebla, Mexico. Goalkeeper Erin McNulty provided the clean sheet with defenders Rheanne Sleiman, Lexi Marton, Myriam Bouchard and Allysha Chapman in front of her.
Coaches and media have one week left to make their selections for the 2008 Canadian Players of the Year. Coaches and media are each making top-three selections in the men’s and women’s 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year categories while coaches are making top-three selections in the men’s and women’s U-20 and U-17 categories. Voting concludes this 3 January.
Fans, of course, are also making their own selections for the CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices. Fans have up until 9 January to pick their favourite players from the 2008 season (no rhyme or reason required). So far, fan favourites include Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba and Tomasz Radzinski in the male category and Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson in the female category.
This year’s CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices voting has identified eight favourites for the 2008 season: four men and four women. Those eight fan favourites have captured more than 80% of the vote less than half way through the voting period. The eight stars are Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba, Tomasz Radzinski, Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson.
The votes have been coming in steadily this past first week in the 2008 CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices popular poll. Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson are leading the way in the women’s category while Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba and Tomasz Radzinski are leading the way in the men’s category. Fans have up until 9 January to make their vote for their favourite male and female soccer players from the 2008 season.
No rhyme or reason is required – fans are simply asked to vote for their favourite players. After 9 January, CanadaSoccer.com will announce the two Fans’ Choices for the 2008 season. The two winners will not only have their headshots captured in the next edition of the adidas Boot Room, but they will also help reward two lucky fans with a Canada jersey and autographed postcard.
Canada is the 11th ranked country in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking. Canada remained even at 1944 points, the same total it had in the last ranking three months ago. England, however, has slipped back into the top-10 ranking, gaining 11 points and moving six points past Canada for 10th place.
USA and Germany are still the top-two countries in the global ranking. USA recently won its third Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in four tries. USA won the gold medal after defeating Canada in the quarter-final, Japan in the semi-final, and Brazil in the final.
